Nanking (2007)

Heroes rise

Amid the horror- hope. A valuable retelling of the history. The history is the subject of books and other films. This is a good starting point to learn, once again, about the cruelty and bravery possible in mankind. August 3, 2008

True picture of history

The historical footage of this movie can not be denied. Though it was very emotional to watch, it was a lesson we can not ignore. Like the holocaust, this was another human tragedy which should never be repeated.An excellent documentary I recommend fully. July 16, 2008

You wont be the same after you watch this...and nobody should.

Nanking is a kind of documentary told by the Westerners and the Chinese who lived through the massacre of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1937. The foreigners who lived in Nanking at the time have sadly passed away but their diaries and stories are read aloud by such actors as Woody Harelson, Jurgen Prochnow and Mariel Hemingway.
Along with the actors reading their parts and the testimonials of surviving Chinese are actual pictures and film footage of the horrors the Japanese soldiers inflicted on the citizens of Nanking.

For the most part you have to have a very strong stomach and a strong heart to watch this. Its gruesom, horrifying and beyond sad. Many would argue though, in order for history not to repeat itself, it needs to be seen. June 11, 2008

The Purple Mountains on Fire

I, like many other Westerners, first heard of the Rape of Nanjing ten years ago when Iris Chang released her book Rape of Nanking. I, of course, knew that Japan had been at war with China and that the Japanese Imperial Army had done a number of despicable things in China, but it was this book that really opened my eyes to what Japan did in China and had a major enough effect on me to make me dedicate my life to the study of Japanese and Chinese history, literature, and film. While I have become aware that Chang's book is overblown in some ways, blaming the "Shinto Sub Cult" for the ways the Japanese treated the Chinese, it acted as an important catalyst for historians to truly dig into the issue and unearth atrocities that had been hidden by not only the Japanese, but the Chinese Communist Party, and America as well. With a number of scholarly tomes, essays, and translations having been released now, hopefully the world will not only gain a better conception of what happened in China, but why it happened.

Of course, more people are likely to watch a filmic version of the Rape of Nanjing than read a hefty tome, but unfortunately although there are a few limited release documentaries, and the films that have reached a broader audience such as Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre almost revel enough in the gore and bloodshed to make the films more fit to be in someone's splattercore library than as an important bit of media.

The documentary Nanking was financed and conceptualized by AOL vice-chairman Ted Leonsis after he read Rape of Nanking on vacation and learned of Iris Chang's suicide. Instead of just stringing together news footage, photos, and films of the period, Leonsis and the directors Gutenberg and Dan Sturman casted various American and international actors, including Mariel Hemmingway, Woody Harrelson, Jürgen Prochnow, and Michelle Krusiec, to give voice to a number of foreign missionaries, businessmen, and doctors who suffered through the Japanese attack upon Nanjing, but did their best to protect the Chinese citizens and military deserters from the brutality of the Japanese soldiers. Also, there are a number of interviews with Chinese survivors of the Rape

Through their roles of reading the diaries of the missionaries George Fitch, Minnie Vautrin, and John Magee, the doctor Bob Wilson, and the Nazi businessman John Rabe, the actors give voice to these great people who risked their very lives to save the people of the foreign country that had become their home. Through their words, and the ample number of photos and films, the viewer can vicariously experience the travesties they experienced which would shorten all of their lives after the left China.

Nanking is of course quite graphic in its detailing of the suffering of the Chinese people at the hands up the Japanese soldiers, but it also shows the strength of what a few can do against the oppression of many. A good albeit horrifying film, it should be added to the libraries of those interested in history and the bitter relationship between China and Japan May 28, 2008

American Idols of the Greatest Generation

The documentary "Nanking" was about a massacre in far away China in World War II. In July 7 1937, Japan waged a full-scale invasion in Peking (Beijing) then Shanghai and Nanking. They dreamt of brutalizing Chinese people into surrender within three months with bombing, looting and killing. A group of westerners, despite evacuation order from their own government, determined to stay with the citizens in the fall of Nanking, then the Chinese capital. They set up the Safety Zone as a neutral sanctuary for the refugees. This team included John Magee, Lewis Smyth, George Fitch, Bob Wilson, Minnie Vautrin, Mills McCallum, Miner Searle Bates and John Rabe.

This documentary started with this background and setting. The film emphasizes that it is not anti-Japanese but brings out the truth. It started with the busy metro Nanking before invasion. Japanese soldiers made the infamous The Rape of Nanking lasting more than six weeks with 350,000 innocent men, women and children massacred and an estimate of 80,000 women raped after they occupied the City on December 13. Audiences would have a comprehensive impression in the cruelty of such magnitude on the blood-thirst invaders in a compact 89 minutes. The testimonials are composed of the eyewitness account in letters and diaries of the westerners, missionaries, professors, medical doctor, businessmen, Chinese colleagues, Japanese soldiers and Chinese survivors inter-connected with vintage footage. Fitch, Rabe, Dr Wilson and Vautrin gave a fair share of elaborate account. The Chinese survivors, in their senior years, broke into tears in recollecting the rape and killing horror so devastating even after seventy years.

Minnie Vautrin, the only woman International Team risked her life by using her campus to help protect more than ten thousand women and children from Japanese brutality. The grateful survivors fondly honored her as Goddess of Mercy. She survived the war, but was a victim of Nanking Massacre. Dr Wilson and his team in the foreigner-run hospital cared for the bayoneted, burnt, sword cut, rape victims with the powerful record by Rev. John Magee in his Bell & Howell movie camera. His testimonial was brief but his courage and footage were powerful and strong throughout in support of the teams' testimonial. However, Magee's contribution was not emphasized enough as his film was the only moving evidence and he testified at the Tokyo War Crime Trial.

This documentary will no doubt attract worldwide attention. It will confront Japanese right-wingers and other high ranking officials who systemically in the past twenty years, whitewash, distort and even deny Nanking Massacre, the notorious Japanese war crime against humanity. The film showed the die-hards with the Prime minister visiting Yasukuni Shrine where housed the Tokyo Trial convicted and executed Class A war criminals. It was a dangerous attempt to resurrect militarism.

Last December was theThe Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War IIAmerican Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie VautrinThe Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John RabeRape of Nanking: An Undeniable History in PhotographsThe Super Holocaust (in China): Remember: 9/18 and The Rape of NankingEyewitnesses to Massacre: American Missionaries Bear Witness to Japanese Atrocities in Nanjing (East Gate Book)The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan's National Shame (Studies of the Pacific Basin Institute) 70th Anniversary Commemoration of Nanking Massacre. However, the perpetrators show no remorse. This film honored the bravery of westerners and remembers the victims. It would affirm friendship if it included how the Chinese people remembered this team in a meaningful gratitude. In May 2001, a group of Chinese Americans, Chinese-Canadians, and Japanese hold a commemorative event for the 60th Anniversary of Minnie Vautrin's passing at her resting place, Shepherd, Michigan. The event included a church service, exhibit of Vautrin's artifacts, and a gravesite service, officiated by Dr. Robert Bates, son of M.S. Bates. On the behalf of the citizens of Nanking, I had the honor of reading their letter of appreciation. Dr Hua-ling Hu, author of The American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie Vautrin dedicated the biography with its Taipei and Beijing versions in front of Vautrin's tombstone engraved with "Ginling Forever" (in Chinese characters). The grave site was adorned with a thousand red roses donated by a grateful Chinese-American in Chicago. In 2003, five Chinese Americans and an American, including Dr. Hu and myself, set up a scholarship endowment (under the stewardship of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia of New York) to honor Minnie Vautrin to carry on her devotion to educating needy Chinese women". In December of the same year, a bronze bust was dedicated in Ginling Campus for this remarkable American woman educator. On September 27 2004, City of Overland, City of St Louis, Missouri Legislature proclaimed it as Ginling Forever, Minnie Vautrin Day followed by Illinois Governor Blagojevich in 2005 and California Congressman Mike Honda in 2006 who recommended her with a Congressional Resolution in Capitol Hill, a meaningful and significant 120 year birthday gift. Last X'mas, Illinois State Museum in Springfield made an exhibit of Minnie Vautrin artifacts to honor her and display the Purple Jade Award from Chinese Government to this distinguish American.

Rev. John Magee had special calling for Nanking. Born in the City, his son David spent his childhood there. He kept his father's camera and the documentary film. With my facilitation and coordination with City of Nanking, in October 2002, David and his wife Frances made a camera donation trip to Nanking for historical truth and evidence. He was excited to visit his hometown and his father's former church, now a middle school, well preserved and restored. The library was dedicated to Rev. John Magee with a wide coverage official ribbon-cutting ceremony. The film would be complete if it includes the Chinese thanksgiving and appreciation,

Ted Leonsis was the producer of this film. Touched by the tragic untimely death of Iris Chang, author of Rape of Nanking, he determined to help tell the story. The devil turned Nanking into a burning hell and the angels stood up to protect and save. These angels were the models to admire and transpire. This film not only glorifies humanitarism and internationalism but also remembers the perished victims. The team of angels including Iris Chang would have a front row seat, smiling at the recognition. The victims would find comfort, understanding that Americans stand up again to testify for their dignity and justice. From this powerful documentary, we witness the Tao of love over violence, courage over cruelty, liberty over horror, light over dark, truth over lie. This documentary keeps the world vigilant so that the perpetrators will remorse with attrition and people of peace with justice will work together to prevent this kind of crime against humanity from happening again.

May 4, 2008

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